


The Color of the Sky

by MaevesChild



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alien Biology, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 08:45:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14614413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaevesChild/pseuds/MaevesChild
Summary: It's lonely being the last Prothean. It's lonely being the last goddamn hope for the galaxy too.  Can't blame them for wanting something to fight for besides vengeance.





	1. Chapter 1

Jane Shepard stayed awake to the point where the alcohol buzz in her head turned from dizzy to a vague ache at the back of her skull. She had enough sense and experience with hangovers to switch to water hours ago.

They weren’t all as smart about it. Nearly every horizontal surface that was vaguely stable had someone sleeping on it. Even the pool table, though since it was Jack, Jane wasn’t really surprised.

Despite the racket of the evening, it was quiet. The lights in the streets that simulated daylight were just starting to come back on, recreating a pale facsimile of dawn. She really should sleep, close her eyes and get some rest but she dreaded it.

So many friends and loved ones were lost, so many sacrificed and every time she closed her eyes, she saw them. It took everything she had to remind herself she hadn’t failed when she inevitably woke up trying not to scream.

She hadn’t failed. Not yet anyway. It was the same thing she told Javik over and over again. He was still standing. Maybe his empire was gone, but he was still alive. _Don’t get caught up in the past,_ she told him. _Let the dead lie._ She’d be the worst kind of hypocrite if she gave up after a few bad dreams, no matter who they were about.

_All right. Get your shit together and get some rest._

Easier said than done, of course. The headache was only a minor annoyance, but everything else felt strange and wrong. It felt like she did when she was outside of the artificial gravity, when she was spaced, like there wasn’t any ground under her feet.

What Jane Shepard really needed was something concrete. Something solid and stable and strong enough to withstand whatever happened. She was tired of hanging on to nothing.

She wanted to be touched. Something to remind her she was still alive but she knew only someone who really understood what she was carrying on her shoulders would do. Only someone who knew what it meant to be held up as the last hope.

She also really wanted someone to fuck her so hard she forgot about that for a while.

Too bad the one person she was drawn to, the first person she’d been truly attracted to since this all began, thought she was a lemur with an assault rifle.

_To discover that the most primitive races of my time now rule the galaxy?_

Jane sighed and turned away from the window.

_Sleep. Right._

 

* * *

 

_The primitives were-_

Javik stopped himself mid-thought. It was amusing enough to banter with the others that way, reminding them of their own small place in the bigger scheme of things, but it was foolish to keep pretending that was how he still felt about them. Perhaps their species were young when his was dying, but except for the Prothean random evolution to chemical communication, these young races were if anything more evolved than the Protheans ever were.

Their council, their alliances, their fragile peace; it was more than his people ever achieved. The Protheans believed only they knew the way to victory; that there was _only one way_ to wage war and in that, they destroyed themselves. The Asari, the Turians, Krogan, Salarians, Quarians, these humans… they could adapt, change. The humans especially; they surprised him with their resilience.

When he woke from stasis, Javik thought he’d already experienced all life had to offer; friendship and betrayal, love and hate, rage and despair. But he was wrong. There was one thing he knew now for the first time.

_Hope._

Well, hope and intoxication. The alcohol seemed to be wearing off now, but he’d never been able to find a moment in his first attempt at life where he was safe enough to let his guard down. not to mention that producing alcohol was of low importance when there was no food to eat.

Drunk was new. He did enjoy the way it broke down his defenses.

New experiences aside, he was lonely. How could he not be? He was the last of his kind and no matter what came, there would be no more. Eventually he’d be a momentary blip in the radar, a side note in a history book; _the last Prothean_. That was assuming these young races survived to write their own histories. If the Reapers succeeded in the harvest, he’d not be remembered at all.

Being remembered did not personally concern him. Victory was paramount but his name did not need to sing through the ages. The hubris of the Protheans wasn’t something he had any desire to have remembered. Better those romantic notions of nobility Liara once had for his race. It was a better legacy than they'd earned.

What he really wanted was _communion._ He wanted to touch another’s skin. It was such an important part of Prothean culture, that connection between beings. But it was more than a simple exchange of information that he desired.

It was about connection but it was also about _sex_ , if he was honest with himself. There had been precious little time for such things before he slept. Sex had been for breeding and sometimes as a last gasp before death. The pleasure was lost in the heartbreak. But he wanted it now, desperately.

To make things worse, he knew who he wanted it with, even if it didn’t make any sense. Perhaps he should have been like the others and drank until he collapsed somewhere, shouting about primitives.

Better than pining after Shepard like a fool.

She wasn’t first outside his species he’d been attracted to, but by the time he was born, most of the subject species were nearly gone, his own species was so close to extinction, it would have been irresponsible to indulge. He’d never even had children of his own; sex with someone he couldn’t reproduce with was unthinkable.

It was different now. Reproduction was a moot point. The chances of surviving the next few weeks were slim.

They _were_ reasonably physically compatible.

He was having trouble coming up with a reason why he shouldn’t want it.

 

* * *

 

Jane made it to the top of the stairs, heading towards her bedroom and hoping no one had crashed in her bed when she bumped into Javik, literally. Everyone else save for Samara and Wrex had dressed down for the party, civvies or casual uniforms at least, but Javik still wore his armor. Her chin bumped against the raised pauldron on his shoulder.

His hands went instinctively to her arms.

She understood. Armor was safe. Where was he going to get clothes for a Prothean body these days anyway? Javik’s fingers flexed around her biceps. She felt a little dizzy again. Maybe she was more drunk than she thought.

_I wonder what that Prothean body is like under all that armor._

Javik made a strange noise that wasn’t quite a word. That’s when realization hit her. She looked up wide-eyed and mortified. She couldn’t hide anything from a man who learned to speak English from touching her. He knew nearly everything about her in the first few heartbeats of their meeting.

_Now that I have read your physiology-_  

He knew what her body was like before she knew his name. Now he knew she was wondering what he looked like naked and she might as well have said it out loud.

She expected him to be offended. He had every right to be if he’d seen enough of the thought she’d had about him. Her cheeks burned. Her immediate instinct was to apologize but she didn’t have time to formulate a whole thought before he smirked and tightened the grip of his long fingers around her arms.

“I find it interesting that we have had the same thoughts, Commander,” he said. He cocked his head, blinked his gold eyes in sequence. “I had not thought to take pleasure in this cycle, but perhaps it is foolish not to.”

Jane’s lips parted, knowing she was supposed to respond somehow but she was utterly at a loss for words.

“Do you suspect my sincerity?” Javik asked. “I suppose you would. I can share with you my thoughts, if you wish. You are one of the few beings in the galaxy that could understand.” He lifted his hand from her arm and with a gentleness she did not expect placed the length of his fingers against her jaw, her cheek. His skin was cool, smooth with an almost imperceptible sensation of electricity.

She nodded her consent. Not that he didn’t already know.

Unlike on Eden Prime, this time his thoughts curved around hers with the same confident subtlety as his hand against her face. Instead of an invasion, it was an embrace. He showed her his desires in flashes of images, scents, tastes. Her hands reached out for him, fingers clinging for purchase on the edges of his armor.

Jane heard the soft sigh of her own voice and opened eyes she hadn’t realized she’d closed. She’d pulled herself closer to him. Javik’s face was inches from hers.

She didn’t need to ask if he wanted her.

She felt his thoughts, the ones that veered from understanding her pain, her burden and her spirit all the way to the parts where he wanted to taste her skin. She wasn’t entirely sure where his desires stopped and hers began.

She pulled her body tight against his, annoyed by the hard shell of material between him and angled her face so she could kiss him. His skin was unlike anything she’d felt before and nothing like she expected. His lips were soft and leathery like supple suede. Slightly cool, his body temperature lower than hers. The deep indent in his lip, that crevice that ran down his chin was faintly warmer when she ran her tongue along it.

She could feel what he felt too; her own damp, slightly salty skin, how everything about her flesh was paper thin and fragile compared to his. She could feel both her own sensations and his. It was overwhelming and she felt herself sag in his arms.

Javik felt it too  _because of course he did_ and she felt the sensations fade. His arm around her back still held her but she could no longer feel his pleasure at the elegant curve of muscle along her spine against his wide, sensitive fingertips.

He started to let go and she grabbed on tighter.

“Wait.”

Javik shook his head. “No, I should have known a primitive species could not-.”

Jane cut him off. “Stop it,” she said. There was no snap, no accusation to her voice. She _knew_ how he felt, even if for a moment it was too much. “I know you don’t believe that anymore.”

“So you did understand?”

“Of course I did, I’ve just never felt both sides of a kiss before. It was...a lot. Human physiology is really only meant to feel one set of sensations at a time.” A frown crept onto the corners of her mouth. “Does this mean we can’t...?”

Javik chuckled, albeit sadly. “Even among my own people sharing can be too much. But I had hoped for-.”

She put a finger over his lips. “Can you just go a little slower? If I could kill a Reaper on foot, I can manage this. I think I need to not be on my feet for this one, though.”

“Perhaps,” he nodded. “It is possible to temper the connection. I will try.”

“Good,” she said, smiling on the corner of her mouth. She grabbed the neck of his armor  and abruptly pulled him close. “Because I want you Javik. I want you in my bed. Now.”


	2. Chapter 2

Like everything else designed by the Protheans, Javik’s armor was elegant and detailed, yet practical. No clumsy latches or straps, just a hidden button to push and it peeled back from his body with soft mechanical clicks. Despite the oversized pauldrons and broad, wide neck ridge his body underneath, still clad in a sleek black jumpsuit, was not so different from a human man’s in size.

An opening ran down the front of the black fabric; Jane wasn’t even sure how it was held together, but it came undone with a gentle touch. His body, like his head and face had smooth leathery grey-green plates with seams of flexible burgundy skin in between. The plates followed the musculature underneath. How he could be so alien and yet so familiar at the same time? 

She took a breath before she touched him again. She steadied herself, centered her thoughts. She wanted this for him as much as she wanted it for herself. They both needed it.

Jane set her hand on the center of his chest and closed her eyes.

At first it was just touch. She felt the firm arcs of the thicker leathery skin curving over the strong muscles and the creased, superbly velvety skin like on his neck in between. She felt his heartbeat, his breathing and then finally his desire. Tendrils of his thoughts curled around hers. She opened her eyes.

Neither of them spoke, none of that fumbling chatter as they worked their way from friends to lovers, from clothes to bare skin. Her fatigues weren’t as provocative as his armor and jumpsuit, no hydraulics and pressure sensitive fabric, just cloth and buttons. Javik had fewer fingers than she did, but they were long and dexterous. The sensation he felt as he carefully undid the buttons on her shirt translated perfectly to her fingers. Somehow, he had found a way to subdue the connection enough so she could still feel her own hands while she felt his.

She pushed the jumpsuit down over his shoulders, moved closer to touch her skin to his, to kiss him again.

This time when she felt his tongue in her mouth, felt him taste her breath it only served to arouse her. Jane couldn’t remember ever wanting something this much. Maybe it was just because she felt him wanting her too, but it felt like more than that.

Her hips were against his. She moved, they both moved on instinct now. His connection fed her the physiology of his body as did her own nerve endings. His erection was unmistakable. She was equally aroused, heat flushing between her legs.

The longer it went on, connection of communication between them started to feel less like something he was doing to her and more something they were doing together. Instead of just letting her desire feed back to him, she tried to project it forward. It felt like a drop of water to running along a thread of spider silk.

Javik gasped. _Guess it worked._

Some things needed to be said out loud still as far as Jane was concerned. She slid her hand around his ribs and down his back and boldly grabbed his ass.

“Javik, I want you to fuck me.”

That was enough to finally get her on the bed. He only pinned her down long enough to kiss her and nip his teeth against her neck. Before she had a chance to even squeak, he had her pants and skivvies off and flung across the room, his sleek jumpsuit rolled down below his knees.

Jane only caught a glimpse of his body before he was on top of her, but she hoped that image would stay burned into her brain permanently.

_He was beautiful._

Sleek long planes and lines, colors she never imagined seeing on the body of a lover, but somehow perfect in their exoticism. Each shade of color, each muscle looked sculpted from her wildest imagination. And his cock, not at all like a human’s, covered in that wickedly vivid burgundy skin, long and thick and reverse tapered with a wide curved head, studded with soft raised teardrops.

He was between her thighs then, that luscious, silky skin of his cock prodding against her. He angled his hips, reached down between them and rubbed his cock against the hood of her clit. He was grinning, showing his teeth. He playfully tapped the broad head of his erection against her.

“This is what you expect,” he said, cocking his head as he always did. It was a tell when he pondered the strangeness of human culture. “But you deserve better.”

“Are you going to give it to me?”

“Yes.” He didn’t equivocate.

They didn’t need to talk but it turned out he liked the sound of her voice as much as she loved his.

_She felt it._

“Then you better,” she said, pausing for effect. She grinned. “ _Give it to me._ ”

Javik slid his cock inside her without hesitation. Her fingers dug into his shoulder, her head thrown back. Her mouth fell open but she wasn’t able to make a sound.

She felt it, really felt it. Not just the amazing sensation of his intricately textured cock inside her, but what he felt as the slick walls of her vagina shifted to accommodate him. The strong muscles inside her clenched tight, trying to pull him deeper inside, hold him there.

Javik bit her collarbone with his small, sharp teeth.

He moved his hips and all those bumps and ridges shifted inside her, touching her in ways she’d never felt and never even knew she wanted. The intertwined strands of their mutual pleasure washed over her.

His rhythm was steady with shallow jerks of his hips. She felt the thick muscles in his thighs flex against hers under their pliable leathery plates. They trembled. He wanted to pound into her; his body was demanding it. She felt him hold himself back.

“Don’t resist it,” she said in reply, as if he’d spoken instead of just sending electrochemical impulses across her skin. “Do it. Fuck me.”

With a growl, Javik buried his face in the side of her neck as he gave in to his arousal. His hips pounded her hard, the sharp smack of their flesh loud enough that if anyone woke, there would be no mistake what was happening. Jane didn’t care. She arched her hips up toward him, her thighs splayed open but all the muscles in her legs hard with tension. She felt pressure build. She couldn’t tell if it was her orgasm, his, both theirs just teetering on the edge.

“Oh god, Javik.”

He changed the angle of his thrust the smallest bit and she moaned incoherently. His thrusts were suddenly dysrhythmic, he lifted his head to kiss her and she felt his orgasm begin. Uncontrollable pressure, pleasure, almost pain before burying himself deep, the base of his cock pulsing, spilling inside her.

Her pleasure rode on his. He grabbed her arm tight as her orgasm rolled over her like a wave radiating out from the middle of her body. The long muscles in her back shivered, tears pricked in her eyes; it was hard to breathe.

Blood rushed into her head. Javik collapsed on top of her. He was deceptively light so she just held him close. She didn’t need to ask him not to move away. He knew.

Javik’s breath was still ragged, his chuckle airy. “Mmm. Turns out there is one thing primitives are good at.”  

Jane shook her head, but smiled. “You'll never change, will you?”

“After fifty-thousand years, it seems unlikely.”

“Good,” Jane said, kissing his cheek before rubbing her face against his. “I like you just the way you are.”

The connection between them had waned to a faint hum, to the contented exhaustion of their mutual satisfaction.

“Shepard?”

“Mm?”

“What color is Earth’s sky?”

“The last time I saw it, despite the Reapers, the destruction and everything, the sky was clear brilliant blue.”

“Imagine it,” he asked.

Jane closed her eyes and the bright dome of Vancouver’s sky painted itself in her mind, feathered with wisps of faint white clouds. Javik sighed blissfully.

“I do not remember the color of the sky over my homeworld,” he said. He curled himself around her, the tension in his body fading away. “I will remember your sky instead.”


End file.
